Classes and the start of the convention in downtown Tampa coincide this year.

So it only seemed "natural" to offer a class that taught the 1,600 freshmen the history of political conventions and a rundown of daily happenings at the 2012 convention, Joe Sclafani, interim dean of UT's college of social sciences, mathematics and education, told The Tribune.

The students will attend the convention for an hour a day during the two weeks the convention is in Tampa. The class is a total of 20 hours.

The rest of the class will be held online, allowing students to take quizzes, participate in chat rooms or go to various websites through Blackboard.

The university has no official ties to the convention, but it did volunteer interns to work the event.

While learning about and attending a national convention is an experience of a lifetime, the question of bipartisanship in the course has been raised since the university requires students to take the class.

"We've tried to go out of our way to be bipartisan," Sclafani told The Huffington Post. "We're not plugging anyone; this is not a 'Vote for Mitt Romney' class."